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Inevitably new geocaches pop up that are in parks with playgrounds. We always approach these with trepidation - especially DH. While it seems like a good spot for a geocache, think about how suspicious it looks for a guy with a backpack to be lurking around, looking under this and that. As a mom with a child, I know how alert *I* am to anyone that looks out of place or suspicious when I'm out with DD at a park. We moms can give a real mean "evil eye" ya know. Not to mention that if you get a paranoid mom, you may suddenly be having to explain geocaching to the police.

Now luckily for us, we ARE a family with a young-ish child, so if we all go to the playground, it's not quite as suspicious - I hang out with DD and let her play while DH hunts for the geocache. But DH will rarely attempt a geocache at a park like this alone and I don't blame him.

So, if you ever are thinking of placing a geocache at a park with a playground, at least try to place it away from the playground equipment. In the case of the photo above, we ended up DNFing (DNF - Did Not Find) the geocache. We believe it was under the gazebo. You can only try for so long to poke around reaching under a gazebo that is smack dab in the middle of a playground when there are people around. It was impossible to look without anyone seeing you. DH tried for a short while, but it wasn't worth the evil stares of the other families, and when one of them pulled out their cell phone, we decided to bag it.

It's ok to place a geocache where "stealth" is required, but try to make sure it's even POSSIBLE to BE stealthy! And let's be sensible and not put it in an area where parents are going to view you as a threat. Like a mama bear with her cubs, you do not want to make a mom suspicious. Trust me on that one.

Do you always say to yourself, "I've got to try geocaching one of these days...."? Are you unsure of how to get started? Well, you have got to listen to this podcast (a podcast is like an audiobook/talk radio - it's a talk show you can listen to right on your computer or your iPod/mp3 player)! This is a podcast by Cliff Ravenscraft of GSPN.tv - he is a producer of many fine podcasts that I really enjoy listening to on everything from popular TV shows like Lost & Desperate Housewives to topics like technology and daily bible devotions. Anyway, my favorite podcast is called "My Crazy Life" and that one is basically an audio diary. Well the other day, much to my surprise, he and his family decided to go geocaching for the first time - and he took his microphone along and you get to go along with him, his wife and kids on their very first time geocaching! It's a load of fun to listen to (I'll give you a hint - they didn't find the first one!), and it shows you how quickly he was able to find and understand the basic instructions, and how easy it was to give it a try!

Whether you are already a geocacher, or have always WANTED to be a geocacher, give it a listen, it's a hoot! (You can listen to it right on your computer or you can download it to your portable media player if you wish.)

Not the most high-tech geocache here, but Mr. Frog was still a clever and fun find. (That's a 35mm film canister used for the cache - those film canisters generally make pretty good geocache containers, but these days with less and less people using film cameras, these are becoming rarer and rarer.)

I had to look closely at this container to see what it really was - turns out it is a tin that held "Wii Chewing Gum" of all things. Did not know they sold Wii Chewing Gum. That was a fun and unexpected container! Not terribly watertight though, however we wiped it out the best we could with a napkin and the logbook was in a ziplock bag anyway, so it was fine. I should have taken a pic of the inside, but glued to the inside of the tin were four small magnets that enabled this container to cling to it's hiding spot.

Here in upstate NY it was a rather warmish day for March on Saturday (around 60 degrees) and so we were thrilled to get out and do some geocaching. We did a lot of cache-n-dashes mostly because it was pretty muddy. The good thing about that was it helped our "yearly total". You see, DH has it in his mind he wants to try to find at least 365 caches this year - which obviously equals one per day. So he's been keeping track all along this year of our total and if we're keeping up or not. With Saturday's finds (15 I think?), that put us a little ahead of where we need to be for the year so far. It also put us over another milestone - we now have found over 700 geocaches. In fact DH insisted that I change my little blurb in the sidebar from "over 500" to "over 700".

Geocachers have a "famous" saying - "It's not about the numbers". But we all know that sometimes it kinda IS about the numbers! :-D

About Me

I am a Geocacher from upstate NY. Our family has found over 700 caches, so don't worry - these tips and advice aren't from a newbie with one find. :-) We geocache mainly in NY, but we cache all throughout the northeast as well. Here you will find info for the beginner, as well as adventures and tales that the experienced cacher will enjoy. Feel free to ask questions!